| Although adjunct professors increasingly represent a high ratio of mathematics faculty, their roles in remediation need to be addressed more closely. The problem of remediation in public higher education is under scrutiny. Universities assert that remediation should not be provided there since remediation is not the function of colleges. Community colleges claim that in addition to providing college level courses, a considerable amount of their courses is considered remedial. In the midst of this debate on the responsibility of colleges with respect to remediation, adjunct professors play a major role in preparing students with deficiencies for college level tasks.;This study compares and contrasts the instructional practices of remedial algebra adjunct professors at a university and community college. To achieve this task, the researcher of this study looked at factors from each institution, such as professors' perceptions of remedial algebra and how students are graded, which in turn may affect students' access to higher education. In addition, gender was considered in this study by looking into the professors' perceptions of gender-based performance on achievement. Furthermore, professors' expectations of their students was considered as a factor in correcting the academic deficiencies of these students.;The findings of this study reveal that university and community college adjunct professors' instructional practices are compatible. Although these professors disagree on their strategies on evaluating their own teaching, they conduct periodic collection of information on their teaching. Significant differences exist among the professors' perceptions of students' anxiety during math tests only but, overall, the difference is not significant. More university professors than community college professors perceive their students as having mathematics anxiety. No significant difference exists between professors' perception of gender and mathematics especially with respect to paradigm and social perceptions. No significant difference exists between professors' expectation of their students in mathematics. Finally, community college students perceive their male adjunct professors as more effective than female professors. |
